Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Judging Your Game of the Year 2023
138 Plays1 year ago
Here it is, the ninety-fifth episode of Unqualified Game Chat! This is where two friends, Azario and Spencer, talk about the games they’re playing and the most requested gaming news.
This week, the two talk about the best games of 2023.
Unqualified Game Chat is posted across podcast services for your entertainment.
Recommended
Transcript
Kickoff and Introduction
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 95 of unqualified game chat. I am your host Azaria Lopez. And with me today is the Christmas angel himself, Spencer, the legacy. Hi everybody. It's been a while.
Website Redesign Issues
00:00:35
Speaker
It's been like three weeks and there's a few things that we need to address before going into the show. One.
00:00:46
Speaker
Noisy pixel got a redesign facelift. It broke for like a week. Yep. But it's, but three it's fixed now and we can now reconvene to talk about 2023.
2023 Industry Overview
00:01:04
Speaker
Hell yeah. Meet in 2024 talk about 2023. Cause we're in the new year.
00:01:13
Speaker
It was a fascinating year, I will say. It felt like three years. It was a long one. A lot happened and we saw a lot of significant growth with our show here and with everything we do in our daily careers. So I'm happy you and I are safe.
00:01:34
Speaker
And six and and our careers are thriving because it wasn't the case for the entire game industry. Yeah. There's a lot of layoffs. It sucks. It really sucks.
Unity Proposal for Small Sites
00:01:49
Speaker
You know, I had this idea that will never work because of egos. But if you know about like all the little sites, the little game couch dot coms around the world, the game coach rules.
00:02:05
Speaker
You have, whenever you go to them, you have one to two writers on there that clearly are writing all the content, all of it. Okay. Now, any, look at any site, look at your Silicon era. Look at your, uh, Gomatsu is clearly run by one person. Um, but look at, look at your cog connected, your, Hey, poor players. Look at all those sites. You'll see one or two people that are writing literally all the content. Now, what if.
00:02:34
Speaker
Dear listeners, we all came together.
PR Coordination Challenges
00:02:37
Speaker
Those one or two writers created a website of our own, fucking dominated.
00:02:44
Speaker
That would be crazy to sell the entire industry. It would 100% never work because of egos. You're 100% right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Everyone would clap all the time. Yeah. What? I can't fucking get that review code? Fuck off. I'll go somewhere else. Like, oh, it's 100% about egos. Oh. All the egos, all the different ideologies, it would collapse within a month, but it would be a year. I dare you to invite someone into your website and try and tell them that
00:03:08
Speaker
their old PR contacts to CC you in all future conversations. I dare you to ask a writer to do that because they will not. I'll tell you that because everyone is so self-fulfilling.
00:03:27
Speaker
When I started Noisy Pixel, I made it a thing because I knew how chaotic it gets with PR people when they get other writers' contacts. I just was like, I'm your main point of contact. If you need anything else, you can go to Bailey. If you need anything else beyond that, you can go to Mark. I lay it out for every new PR person, just in case, because lo and behold, they'll reach out to a little staff writer and say, hey, would you like to review this game?
Ethical Issues in Journalism
00:03:51
Speaker
I would like to and then they start and they are doing that and you're like, well, I can't explain the person they already did without my knowledge because that I look like I don't know what I'm doing. I never even knew about that game. Or worse, you got someone who's like selling codes or like. Been around the block there.
00:04:10
Speaker
tasted that forbidden fruit. They leave the site and they're still communicating on behalf of the site. There's all these situations that happen all the time. There's, there's so many like behind, there was an issue not too long ago about a, um,
00:04:27
Speaker
guy using the website he was at to bring his girlfriend to like E3 or something. And honestly, like I remember it being such a huge deal back then. And he had to like, say he's sorry. And they like threw him away from the site. But honestly, like, like she, cause she received a press patch, but in my head it's like, well,
00:04:49
Speaker
She probably helped. I mean, he still did the content content. Yeah, I just don't think that's something to like really grill someone on because one.
00:05:00
Speaker
In this industry, when you're riding every day, every night, if you do have a significant other, you do stop.
Balancing Career and Personal Life
00:05:06
Speaker
You don't really have time for them. And it sucks because you're already, you're always reviewing and it looks like you're just like playing video games and like, they'll tell their friends, Oh, he's buying video games again. But really you're working, you know, unless you've like done that, you can't explain now this is work video games.
00:05:24
Speaker
Yeah, I don't necessarily want to be doing this because it was going to believe that if they like don't. Yeah, I don't want to be playing this game, but I am. It's kind of fun. But yeah, you're absolutely right. So I could see how the other of going to an out of town place, getting a free press badge and just having your significant other there while you go to your preview events and stuff.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah. Hey, it's like, Oh, it's the reward for you putting up with it. B it's like, Oh, now you can get some perspective on what I do so that when I do it, you might go, Oh, so this is like actually work. Yeah. I do think it's fine. And, and maybe have her carry your backpack or, or him have one of them. Are they, are they have anyone?
00:06:10
Speaker
Make them care yourself. Not that you can, because either forever. So. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It doesn't work. With that said, let's get into the actual show, because we do have to talk about our game of the year and your game of the year.
Game of the Year Discussion
00:06:24
Speaker
So and your is the royal, the the view, the viewers, the listeners who commented on our thing three weeks ago, I believe, on our thing. What's that thing in the sense where it goes?
00:06:39
Speaker
Do you know who killed Mr. Burns? What's your game of the year? Should we start with ours or start with theirs? Start with theirs. Let's, uh, yeah, let's get, yeah.
00:07:02
Speaker
DC Fat Cat. Start with the man, the myth, the legend. Sorry. On a personal note, he says, everybody want to switch brought me drunken weed smoking, broken emotionally. Oh, brought my drunken weed smoking, broken emotionally family together that I cannot have done in the past.
00:07:27
Speaker
We were all up seeing my mother-in-law and she had to go to the hospital. Wait, what? I took care of the kids. I guess. She did the quick draw too hard. She rolled a pop. Oh, I hope your mother-in-law's okay. She just danced too hard. You know, sometimes the draw is a little quick.
00:07:55
Speaker
Uh, look quick. It's too competitive. Couple drinks. Um, all right. So yes. Uh, one, two, everybody want to switch. Got no love from Nintendo, but got some love from somebody DC. Um, he used to be someone else. I don't remember. I think it was like crab something.
00:08:21
Speaker
I don't know. That's okay. Your DC fat cat. Your DC. Well, I don't know. I think he changed that because I'm hoping that's not the case. It's legally DC fat cat. Legally. My name is DC fat cat. Uh, we have calm do a FGC that says, uh, I finally beat Xenoblade Chronicles, uh, D E a definitive edition.
00:08:51
Speaker
this year. So I, so I guess that's gotta be my top game. Um, but for actual 2023 games, uh, street fighter six and moral combat one are tied for first place. Uh, street fighter six, one, a few, uh, spots in our staff, um, games. Johan made it his one first game. A little bit. This one won't come out one though. Me too. I would say street fighters comes out on top for me in that.
00:09:20
Speaker
As a fighting game, I don't know what it was, but it just didn't. I don't know. It just wasn't enough different from 11. Yeah, it was like the Crips gone. It's like, here's a gotcha system and the online board game is just like the worst part of Smash Bros Ultimate. Characters are fun. I like Omni Man.
00:09:48
Speaker
That's the thing about Mortal Kombat is that like. I can't deny that it's like a visually nice looking game, but. And gory, I mean, that's. I kind of like I like the I love the gore, but I think it's way less fun when they're going for photorealistic visuals. And it's just like, oh, this is just like. Less like fun, this is just like online evil video, like when it's like.
00:10:16
Speaker
Hey, the characters are more visually recognizable. And I saw the character select screen at first. I was like, I don't know who like, I can't tell half these people just look like people. They don't look like like the the more stylized versions of like, I would say around 10 that stopped started going away, but 10 still had stylization. But yeah, but when it's photoreal, it's like the blood's less fun because it's not this cartoony. So it just looks like weird kind of. It's like off putting, but still cool. But I don't know. I wish they'd go back to
00:10:45
Speaker
more colorful, less realistic visuals, just because I think it's more charming. They never will. But I think it looks cooler. But Street Fighter VI's character design was pretty good. Honestly, a bunch of the new characters, I was like, they're kind of boring looking, but at least they are distinct visually. I'm like, wow, yeah. I can tell from one look at each character, I'm like, this is their vibe, this is what they're
00:11:07
Speaker
their thing is. That's I think I honestly think Tekken 8 has a chance to kind of just dominate for
Excitement for Tekken 8
00:11:14
Speaker
a while. Well, automatically, because it has that the 3D. The 3D aspect of the fighting, it's already different than any fighter that's available. We don't have a Soulcalibur to compare it to. We don't have a bloody roar, you know.
00:11:31
Speaker
Don't know what what's that Sega gate is fighting cobra's virtual fighter That sucks but uh, yeah Street Fighter 6 great choice Mortal Kombat one pretty good choice. It's very pretty game Can Oh Can Oh sis player 51 52 says tears of the kingdom lived up to the hype for him and
Nintendo's Unique Approach
00:11:57
Speaker
Final Fantasy 16, loved the music story and the dominant battles. An interesting choice, Pikmin 4. Charming and best one. I wish I played Pikmin 4. I played it for an hour and I had a lot of fun, I just had to move on. I think I did, I do agree that from what I played, it's like a very fun game. Yeah. But I'll Pikmin, I'll Pikmin are like,
00:12:25
Speaker
incredibly charming. It's like the sleeper Nintendo series, where it's like, it's not Mario Zelda Animal Crossing, which is weird, Animal Crossing is like one of the biggest ones now, but it's not one of those, like the big on all the, it's the one everyone plays, even people who don't play games play it. Like, but it is, it's consistently good. It's consistently, it seems to sell well, and it's always
00:12:49
Speaker
Each sequel feels iterative on the previous one. I would call it the little Nintendo's biggest sleeper thing that's doing really well. I'm happy. Did you play Tears of the Kingdom? I did. I liked parts of it a lot. I loved the building. I loved running around and shit. I played Breath of the Wild at launch, so it's been enough time that I was like, yeah, this is pretty much the same map, but it's been so long for me and I never replayed it that I'm like,
00:13:14
Speaker
it feels fresh enough to me, but I completely understand anyone who's like, this is, I played this recently or I remember it better. Cause as we've said before, we play a lot of games. So like, you know, constantly like your short-term memory of games is constantly resetting and you're like forgetting stuff or overriding it. Yeah. It's kind of interesting when you're, when you're talking to someone about a game that maybe you reviewed or even played and
00:13:39
Speaker
You kind of rely on them to bullet point remind you of what you liked about the game. And you're like, Oh yeah, that's, that's what I forgot about that. That rocks. I fucking yeah. And like, it's been so long since breath the wild. Like I played breath the wild in my York university dorm in like 2017. Shit.
00:13:59
Speaker
when I was 21, and now I'm 27. I've been through three houses since then, not Fire Emblem, three houses. I've literally been three living spaces since then and how many jobs now. In addition to dozens of games, when I got to the map, I honestly don't remember if this is different at all.
00:14:23
Speaker
I don't know if this is new or what, like I have no clue. So that helped, and I enjoyed, I think the building was like flawlessly fun, the building part. I think there was a lot of like small stuff that kind of bugged me over time, but I think overall it was an excellent game, so yeah. Yeah, I didn't even, I didn't even try. I played Breath of the Wild and wasn't into it, but you know what? I hope this is a new direction. I hope that, like I know it is, but I'm saying I hope they also do smaller
00:14:52
Speaker
Like classic ones in between, which I'm assuming they will, because they just do one every seven years of Zelda. That's not going to fly. That link to the past one was kind of fun. Yeah, that was delightful. Do you should like, uh, I own it and I haven't played it, but like link between worlds where it's like a smaller, like 3DS game, it's the classic system, blah, blah, blah. Do stuff like that in between and little remakes like links awakening. And I think people will be happy, but yeah. Yeah.
00:15:17
Speaker
I, I, it's, it's interesting.
Financial Challenges for Publishers
00:15:20
Speaker
Um, they put out, um, kind of the Nintendo, um, financials and it seems like they're doing really well. And I, I, I can only attribute it to be like, they seem to release a game like every two months, like a first party game, but the quality behind those games is like.
00:15:45
Speaker
No other publisher would go back and release Super Mario RPG. I'm sorry. Sony would never fucking do that. Sony hasn't even brought... Yeah. I mean, they brought it to PS5 digitally or whatever, but they haven't spent that type of... Yeah, they didn't do anything to it. I think it was broken when they launched it. Such a stark difference. Yeah. It's like...
00:16:13
Speaker
Nintendo is doing things on a budget and seeing an actual return. Sony is just pouring money into these huge things. And not only that, but to support these large budget titles, you're, you're going to see a shift in the industry where they can somehow recuperate those funds, whether it being through microtransactions, DLC.
00:16:41
Speaker
are getting you to buy the game again, they're going to find a way to, to make their money back. Uh, and, and that's, and that's why we have all these live service games now, because the games are costing 200, $300 million to produce. And sooner or later, that's not, that's not going to be, uh, sustainable.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, whether it crashes or something, I don't know, but it's not sustainable. Okay. And they want to pay their developers living wages. And that's also very difficult in the, in the past combined with the enormity of the budget. Yeah. And then you have your marketing budget and then you have all these other, these other, uh,
00:17:28
Speaker
ways that it's connected to, um, the game's release. Uh, it's, uh, office a little out of control. Yeah. I w I do, I do like some of the best games, like, I mean, Zelda's awakening on game boy, or even like the Mario on game boy.
Iconic Games as Side Projects
00:17:50
Speaker
The only reason why those games were ever like created, and this is like known history in gaming, but it's because a developer stayed after, uh, and started working on their own project. Like clearly a lot of like the best projects that we've seen were developed by, or at least started off by a single developer working in their spare time, not getting paid for it today in a, in a big.
00:18:18
Speaker
organization like Sony or Microsoft, you will never hear a story like that. Because if someone came out and said, oh yeah, I started working on this God of War spinoff in my free time and then Sony decided to pick it up.
00:18:37
Speaker
Uh, but the moment that they use, Oh, what you were working on games unpaid. Why would you do, you know, it's like the narrative kind of is kind of shifting away from anybody, uh, pushing, pushing for that, that creative.
00:18:51
Speaker
pitch to develop. I got fired. So I had time to, I wanted to make a thing of this thing that I like, but since I got fired, uh, I had time to make an indie game that looks similar with the concept, but is legally distant. Yeah. Like that's like, that's the more modern equivalent. Yeah. That's what you like to hear. And I think Ubisoft Montreal is one of those studios that sees a lot of like people go in.
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah. Developers go in, they get their experience and then they go right out and start their own indie studio. But Canada is definitely a different beast in that they support stuff like that. And we're getting ahead of ourselves. We're introducing too many, uh, facets into this conversation.
Hopes for Industry Resolution
00:19:35
Speaker
I guess, I guess the bottom line is like, uh, the industry's in a weird place right now. I hope.
00:19:42
Speaker
We find a good way forward, but last year was rough. Last year was rough. So when I, when I say that I'm happy that Spencer and I are in a good spot, I am definitely very happy.
00:19:55
Speaker
Um, so moving on, uh, Nan, Nanora says my first dragon quest was eight.
Charm of RPGs
00:20:01
Speaker
I bought it for final fantasy. I bought it with the five. Oh, they didn't say anything. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I remember that I came with the. Uh, five S E or sorry. Dragon quest eight is excellent. It's one of your games ever. Dragon warrior eight. It was dragon. It was once we become quest nine, like DS kind of era, like monsters joker.
00:20:22
Speaker
I think some, somewhere around there. I didn't know that the, we, we got a few, um, we got a few monsters titles that I didn't even know that were localized. I was looking into the series and, uh, there's a, there's a couple of entries that I didn't even know where it came West. So I wanted to dive deeper into that. I did. I did end up buying the new one too. So it's so, so I wish so better.
00:20:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's why that's like my criticism because everything about that game is addictive. Like it is you get a cycle of just like making new stuff. Nothing holds you back. You're never it's not like it's it's you're always progressing and you're always getting better. And I just love those games. I I'm at the point where with games like this, I don't like roadblocks. You know, I just like the one I want to do. Let me do it. Let me do it.
00:21:18
Speaker
Let me do it. Um, so, uh, Nersia says potion omics, very charming characters. Game is a tad too easy and random, but makes me excited for a follow-up potion omics. I believe is published by X seed. Um, but, uh, yeah, X seed published it, um, or, um, it's developed by, uh, voracious games. I think they're like an animator group and.
00:21:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's like a shop running RPG. Sadly, we didn't review it on the site. And I, I, whenever this game is brought up, I always like kind of get bummed out. Yeah. I didn't even know this existed. Yeah. It's a fun, it's a fun game or it's a fun looking game. And it's just one of those that I, that come up a lot more than you would expect. Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
So now that when I have the white dock open, I look really white and I'm like, oh, wait, I can just do that. And I like look normal now instead of the lamp was such a good move. Yeah. Like that's, that's without the white block. That's so much nice. There's a lamp behind my monitor. Oh, easy. Um, and then Narsia says world of Warcraft season of discovery. I have no idea what that is. You know, the only Warcraft that I really invested myself into was three.
00:22:40
Speaker
And no one talks about that anymore. I've never played a damn one of them. Yeah. It was like, we would go to like these, those, those PC arcade or PC, like a cafes and we'd play Warcraft three and counter-strike, uh, land. And then sand, sand storm was playing on constant loop. My, uh,
00:23:06
Speaker
My friend's brother would play World of Warcraft while I was at his house and I would, we would, he would go to the bathroom and whenever he did, we would go on chat, say evil things and get him kicked. So that's my experience with anything Warcraft related. It's just that.
00:23:22
Speaker
dead and alive. Ninety one 66 says, well, long final fallen destiny.
Gameplay and Narrative Highlights
00:23:28
Speaker
Yeah, I reviewed it and hell yeah. I, you know, I'm putting on a top five and I really struggled not putting well long on, uh, because it was one of those games that not only did I play through single player, but after it came out, I played through with a friend and like, I do.
00:23:51
Speaker
It's a game that makes you feel so badass. Like, I know Dark Souls and Neo and all those games are like for that, but it does, it takes it. Yeah, what Dead in the Life says, it's got problems and it's not as great as Neo 2, but I still have the combat. Same. It is not good as Neo 2. But the action systems, so satisfying. The mission structure,
00:24:17
Speaker
The bosses fuck like so satisfying. Um, hi-fi rush. It's an, it's excellent in every aspect, but it's not number one because I didn't like the mandatory Perry sections. I haven't played, I've only played a few hours of it, but I really liked it for when I played the problem with that game is like, once you do play it, it's like one of those games again, that doesn't hold you back. So there's no natural stopping point. You just want to keep playing. That makes sense. Yeah.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah. There's no like, Oh, I could stop here for a little bit and play something else. No, because you want to continue it. It's like a, like a 3d platform, like a ratchet and clank, you know, like you never want to stop playing anymore. And you got to work to get the world and a final fantasy 16, which is on my list. Love, loved the game. I liked it.
00:25:15
Speaker
You know, you know, I, it's weird. I have a lot to say about Final Fantasy 16 and maybe we should hold it off for like an actual episode on Final Fantasy. Cause I don't even really still like six months later. I still don't even know where a hundred percent stand on it. Yeah. Yeah. I would, I would love to discuss that game with you because from an, from a narrative standpoint, I, I loved it, but, um,
00:25:44
Speaker
I do think that it retains too much, too much MMO systems. And, and that's why in my head, I like what Yoshi P did with the game. Um, and the series, but for the next entry, I do hope someone else kind of takes over. Yeah. Fresh new voices, fresh new voices, a new look at final fantasy and thriving with 14 14.
00:26:14
Speaker
You know, but the thing is about me is like I liked all Final Fantasy. It's like I liked 15, you know, there's not I don't hate any I don't hate any I feel that I minimum I like it. Yeah. Yeah, I love 15 I I know that it's not like face game is not really finished and it has all sorts of but I love 15 so much I you know, sometimes sometimes when I'm high I'll like have like these like thoughts about
00:26:40
Speaker
Noctis and in the group like eating dinner and stuff and like I'll just remember those scenes and I'll I come to tears a little bit like the last camp because Yeah, if if if they were trying to Convey what it's like to be a group of dudes on a just Together like it's perfect, man
Praise for Wanted: Dead
00:27:05
Speaker
That's that's how like it's the peak meal for engine. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So next up, we got Justin anime. Our favorite iconic legend iconic wanted dead. It's a game by. Did you ever play one to death? I think the developers of Ninja Gaiden worked on it anyway. Wasn't received very well, but I agree that it was it was just a fun, stupid.
00:27:33
Speaker
action game and that's what they wanted to do and they did it and they did it with class and they did it. I don't know. I feel like on the on the surface like Metal Gear 2 kind of a silly game like if you if you just pay attention to all the silliness that they do and I think wanted dead in capital capitalized on that like we're going to have this serious skin of a game but. The yeah it's it's goofy.
00:28:03
Speaker
I'll have to check it out. It's overly gory. Uh, there's a lot of like funny jokes and I don't know. It sounds interesting. Let's see what Justin anime has to say about it. Um, one to dad is almost universally hated, but the cast is fun and has heart. The gameplay is almost puzzle-like and it's execution. And the story means more. If you take the time to explore the base after each mission, I really loved it. And I'm sad. I may never get to see more.
00:28:30
Speaker
Um, you might because that publisher is, uh, I believe they're Chinese and they got that money. Uh, there's like Canada. I think there's a lot of support for developers in China. Yeah. Yeah.
Final Fantasy 16 Narrative Discussion
00:28:46
Speaker
That's something Canada is good at. Yeah. Support the arts. Oh, they're, they're, they're government just gives, gives any, any, any developer software. Um, tons of tons of support. Um,
00:29:00
Speaker
as Hyde said, didn't play many games that released this year, but mine would be tears of the kingdom. Cause they're a basic bitch. They say it was, it was much better than I expected when in thinking just more breath of the wild. But despite that, I ended up being enthralled by the world all over again. Final fantasy 16 flawed, but with, but has some high narrative points much better than the sum of its parts, I guess, despite an awful translation.
00:29:28
Speaker
I don't think the translation was awful. I think it was written first in English and translated to Japanese. Yeah. I think even in Japan, there's no dubs. There's no dubs. That's strange. Yeah. They said because they used mocap. Oh yeah. Mocap's really big now. Yeah. Uh,
00:29:56
Speaker
I think I was talking to Bailey the other day about it. And I think they shouldn't have put so much budget into the audio. And it's like because everything is voiced, but you end up skipping so much. Yeah, like I'll have a side question should I'm like, I don't I just want it. I don't fucking care. Yeah, I'm sure you performed really well. And I'm sorry, but I got it. I got four more games as much.
00:30:21
Speaker
We got, um, they'll say, uh, Mario RPG wonder. Um, Oh, I wish I played wonder. I don't know what wonder is. Mario wonder. Oh yeah. Oh my God. That's one of those games I put on it. I couldn't put down for the diet. It sent me back pretty far. I never picked it up. I gotta get to it. Um, star ocean to three way tie for those three games.
00:30:48
Speaker
I agree. Um, Mike method to five, six says the bite and kydos remaster, although it would have been a hundred times better if they kept the English voices and star ocean to remake was also an incredible game. I agree. Bite and kydos remaster. That was a, that was a fun release. I, I, I imported it from a play Asia, but, um, way to play
Final Fantasy VII Remake Ending
00:31:10
Speaker
it now. Is that the ideal way?
00:31:12
Speaker
Yes, if you're if you're gonna play it. But like, like Mike said, they did remove the English voices. But there's the argument that they were really bad. I yeah, I can like I if I don't have any assaults before the English like, that's fine. Um, Lozy says,
00:31:34
Speaker
Nothing this year because obviously when I buy something, it has to be good, a good deal. That's fair. Games are expensive. So, Final Fantasy 7, remastered? Integrate. Oh, RI, I was like, yeah. Yeah, remake, integrate, sorry. Yeah.
00:31:58
Speaker
That ending of integrate was so freaking good. The second that they showed up, I was like, Oh, we're doing dirt. Yeah. Like my friend was watching me play and they didn't know who they were. They were like, who I was like, that's from the PS2 shooter sequel. That's really, that's really interesting. I kind of suspect that I was like, you know, they referenced Advent children in the main game. So I was like, okay, the compilation thing, I guess.
00:32:28
Speaker
But then, uh, yeah, then that happened. And I was like, Oh, this is going to be weird. Yes. I feel like they're making things more difficult for them, but we'll find out. The game is so close. The game treats all the other games cannon. Where the fuck Sisney. Yeah. Give us this name. Bring it back. She, she became the love of my life in, uh, and you guys threw her away.
00:32:53
Speaker
And either way, that's not fair. Um, sob and fire, uh, says octopath traveler to fuck.
Octopath Traveler 2 Excitement
00:33:01
Speaker
Yes. I didn't play that. I'll tell you, dude, it is rare. It is rare for me to beat these hundred hour RPGs and, and I remember it was like maybe five days until embargo for
00:33:21
Speaker
Octopath Traveler 2 and I looked at my play time and it was like 96 hours. And I thought to myself, how? And there were several nights when I was playing where I saw the sunrise and no other game has done that to me for quite a long time. But Octopath Traveler 2 did that.
00:33:39
Speaker
There's two extremes when you're a game reviewer and that's you right before embargo, you're like, I put 80 hours to this. How did I do that? And there's, I feel like I'm playing this for three weeks and I have 14 hours in it. What the fuck is happening? Those are the two extremes. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm right there with you. Um, I'll talk about the traveler too is, oh, there's this, there's this moment where you get the fucking ship too. And you, you build it and oh, it's so good. I love the HD2D style though. So one day I'll play them.
00:34:09
Speaker
Did you play Star Ocean? No, I've never played a Star Ocean ever, I don't think. Oh, wait, no, I played one. I played the one two years ago. One year ago, Divine Force, the recently... One of the most hated ones. Was it? I was like, maybe it's because I've never played a Star Ocean ever. I was like, oh, this is fun.
00:34:29
Speaker
Uh, was it divine force or it's like, though maybe it wasn't divine. It was like faith and faithless faith. And yeah, that one was like, yeah, divine force. People like divine force. Yeah, divine force was last year. Uh, that was the one where the guy flow around and everything. And yeah, he's big blonde man. Yeah. I'd never liked it. Cause yeah, cause I played it and I was, I'd never play stars. And I was like, all these characters look like they came from the fucking labyrinth or dark crystal. They'll look like Henson people. It's really interesting.
00:35:00
Speaker
Should I start with one if I play Star Ocean? Isn't the one remake good or the R or whatever? I think I have that. Yeah, that one's good. But it is. It is. It does retain a lot of like the the classic gameplay elements to definitely does this. You write the two remakes. Yeah, you can play either one of those first. Yeah, I think you're good.
00:35:29
Speaker
Kirill Neko says best game best games Hogwarts legacy Final Fantasy 16 and persona tactic first persona tactic games.
Reflections on Hogwarts Legacy
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's like very, very different. Very different. Very different games. I mean, they're all kind of like role playing elements, I guess. So yeah, those are all good games. They also said they also said finally getting back to the my backlog tells of Zelia two and the Terminator game.
00:35:57
Speaker
Is that the one by the Robocop people? Yeah. Robocop game fucking rocks. So I will definitely play the Terminator game one day. I plotted that. Tells the Zellia 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I know it's not as good as Zellia, but I love those characters. One day. Aaron6493 says Hogwarts Legacy, Fate Samurai, Remnant, and Star Ocean 2 are. Yeah. You know, Hogwarts Legacy, again, a game I played for like
00:36:27
Speaker
50, 60 hours, I believe. And, uh, it was fun, but I don't remember, I don't remember my experience with the game. Like I actually have to think about it. Yeah. That that game one came out this year to year. There was a lot of stuff came out and a lot happened in the real world and it was a long year. Um, but yeah, great games. Um,
Blasphemous 2 Admiration
00:36:56
Speaker
Uh, Toronto knows says, uh, blasphemous to everyone seems to really like that game. Um, he got, he got Sobo says, uh, armored course six, Pikmin four and blasphemous to play. I'm recording. I own it. I have it. Our, our dude, Brian says Alan week to, you know, Brian, I'm with you.
Alan Wake 2 Emotional Experience
00:37:20
Speaker
Yeah. Did you play it through it? I finished it like four days ago and a hundred percent of it. And I started the master section. Oh, I love it. You know what? I like the first down. It has. It's definitely like a 360 game. A hundred percent. But I think that the first down wake is really interesting and really cool. And then, you know, remedy just, how many is just interesting?
00:37:47
Speaker
everything they do, I'm like, this is weird. I like it. I'll try it. So, you know, I respect Sam Lake and the crew, all their weird ideas. I respect the strangeness. We'll get into that. Yeah. Uh, Chris mean Dio says Hogwarts legacy again. Great, great, great game. Great time sink. Um, X
00:38:12
Speaker
experience share video games says Baldur's gate three and armored core six, but for Baldur's gate three, since we haven't had another, uh, another one since in this list. Um, I'll read, uh, they said, uh, looked better than any other game this year. Voice acted better than any other game this year.
Baldur's Gate 3 Hype Critique
00:38:30
Speaker
Best writing of any game this year or freedom and player agency than any game this year. Better romance options. So I don't know if I got that in me. I don't either, man.
00:38:41
Speaker
I wish I was nerdier, you know, that's the other thing is I'm not a huge D&D kind of guy I've played it a couple times with people but you know what I hate And you know what I'll get on my fucking soapbox right now Spencer. Oh, we got an Azario tangent coming In
00:39:03
Speaker
You know what really grinds my gears? You know what really grinds my gears? It's when western media places, your katakus, your polygons, they'll just
00:39:19
Speaker
they'll suck the tit of these Western RPGs where they'll put out videos of like, um, listen to this, uh, ball slap and like, they'll like show a video on their Twitters of like a character moving and like you hear their balls slapping on it. Yeah. So that's in ballers gate three. It's a feature in there because they're naked, but
00:39:41
Speaker
They're, they're celebrating it. And the fact that they celebrate the, the, the, the constant celebration of having sex with bears and, and having sex with like the first character you interact with and, and all this stuff. Cool. I get it. But the moment you throw an anime girl in there, it's like, Oh no.
00:40:02
Speaker
No, these are these creepy anime lovers. Well, I'll call you a fucking creep for wanting to have a bear You know, it's like it's like don't open don't open that door and and you know what if you want to fuck to be You're going to hell you're going to hell
00:40:24
Speaker
It's the thing about Western media outlets, too, is the moment you call them out, you're automatically allowed on a nerd that can't be reasoned with. If you just ask a question, if you just say something. It's very hostile on all sides. Everything's very divisive and hostile. It's a lot.
00:40:47
Speaker
I really attempt to see the, the, the various sides of any arguments. Guys, I play, I play call of duty. I play all these, I play Western games. I'm there with, with everybody on normie shit, but, but try and try and stay, uh, Oh no, I don't know. It makes sense now why Japanese developers are like,
00:41:13
Speaker
I don't like the name JRPG and a lot has to do with like this. I get the kind of others that I understand. And that's got to suck. I mean, that's a weird thing. Like I see every day I see people fighting like, well, Western media has always been really racist towards JRPG. So all the Western gamers, I'm like, whoa. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We've been made fun of for liking JRPGs forever. I mean, we're all being bad. That's you guys. Okay.
00:41:43
Speaker
I was playing Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. And everybody was saying that was lame and stupid. And I was just like, I don't care where it's from. It's cool. And so now you're not labeling me the bad guy in that situation. It's I don't know. It sucks, but, uh, everyone's painting with wide brushes these days. Yeah. White swaths. And, uh,
Resident Evil 4 Remake Praise
00:42:10
Speaker
It's a lot. I think the best way to play... It's unfortunate, but I think that the best way to engage with video games is just look up things that you think look cool, trailers, maybe the occasional positive feature that you can be like, oh, this person clearly likes this thing, I want to see why.
00:42:29
Speaker
and never engage with anyone else who likes it, unless you already know them as a person. Yeah. Never post about it publicly. And that's the really the, at most tweet, like, I like this thing about this game. And then don't look at your Twitter for a week per week. Just walk away. We're in a good place. We're in a good place media. Now let's go on to you. What is your game of the year? Uh, yeah. So for most of the year it was rising before. Cause I was like,
00:42:58
Speaker
I was at the camp, oh, Resident Evil 4 doesn't need to be remade. It fucking rocks. And it does, though. And this doesn't replace it at all. Resident Evil 4, the original, is a great, faster-paced, goofy arcade game, while Resident Evil 4, the new one, is a great, slower-paced, scarier, Resident Evil remake kind of game, and they both exist parallel. And I couldn't be happier about that. That's the best-case scenario to me.
00:43:21
Speaker
I do think it retains its arcadey nature at the last mission. I think towards the end it kind of flips that switch like, Oh, this is Resident Evil 4. I remember. Yeah. In the beginning, I was approaching it like it was the original Resident Evil 4 and I kept dying in the village and I was like, I didn't die once in the village.
00:43:39
Speaker
No. In the original, so this is like, this is fucking rain point in my brain. Yeah, you're playing a game right now. Yeah. So once I got back, like, once I kind of like slowed down and I got into the flow, I was like, I have to play Resident Evil 4, like it's not Resident Evil 4, which sounds silly, but that is true. I was like, oh, this fucking rocks. This is exactly what I wanted to do. So that was, that was one, but I think my overall game, I think it really is Elmwick 2 because, uh,
Alan Wake 2 Emotional Journey
00:44:05
Speaker
At first, I started playing it. I was having all sorts of technical issues on PlayStation, like falling through walls and shit. And I was like, this is kind of frustrating. And then it got patched and blah, blah, blah. And then the deeper I got into the game, the more I was like.
00:44:17
Speaker
I don't know. I was enveloped by it. It was so fun. Like I mentioned before, I like the first one. I like Control. I like Max Payne. I like Remedy. They do cool stuff. You like Quantum Break? I never played that. That's the only one I haven't played because I have an Xbox. Missing out. I got to get to that.
00:44:37
Speaker
But I love David Lynch. Twin Peaks is one of my favorite things in the world. So I was like, Helm Lake 2 is probably, but it's been a year of like Final Fantasy 16. I was super excited and then I was kind of let down. Spiderman 2, I was super excited and I was a little let down. So I was like, I'm just going to approach Helm Lake 2 like it's like a fun little thing.
00:44:55
Speaker
And then I was as I maybe I should just approach all games like that from now on. But as I went through it, I was I kept being pleasantly surprised over it. I was like, wow, this is really subversive. This is really weird. This is really interesting. And it really like by the end, I was like, wow, you know, even if like things happen, I didn't understand on first client, maybe this is again my I like David Lynch brain. So I'm used to being like, this doesn't have to make sense to me right now, as long as it makes sense to me emotionally, because I think Remedy understands
00:45:26
Speaker
a lot of David Lynch and Twin Peaks homages, they just go for like weird and like cherry pie. And like, and that's fun, but a lot of things don't understand that like David Lynch has a very surreal
00:45:38
Speaker
aspect of his movies and shows, to me, they're like dreams where they don't necessarily make logical, consistent sense, but they make sense to your emotions. They make emotional sense. That's the Nicolas Cage one, where he's like, this is my leather jacket. Yeah, exactly. There's so many moments where you're like, this is weird. This is fucking strange. You get it emotionally. I think Alan Wake 2 is one of the only things that is Twin Peaks-esque.
00:46:07
Speaker
that understood that lynch thing where, again, I probably missed some stuff in the game and didn't understand everything completely. But in the end, I was like, that was a completely satisfying experience. I feel emotionally fulfilled and I feel like I got everything that I needed to. And if I want to get more, I can look deeper into the manuscripts and the blah, blah, blah. But I think it was an excellent
Gaming Preferences Reflection
00:46:33
Speaker
adaptation of that sense of surrealism and while still being very fun and interesting. So that is probably at the top. I liked a lot like Resident Evil 4. I love Pizza Tower, incredible Wario Land-esque game. I love Robocop. That was a huge surprise. This is probably going to be just like fun, but buggy or whatever, but it was just like the whole time.
00:46:57
Speaker
I was like, they get RoboCop. This is the only thing I want for a RoboCop game was like blasting heads off ridiculously of evil people and stupid goofy one liners that rock and the theme playing occasionally and like over the top Paul Verhoeven capitalist wasteland of a setting where it's not trying to be subtle or something. It's completely stupid.
00:47:23
Speaker
over the top because that's why I love my Robocomp. I kept thinking when I was playing it, I kept thinking about that video I said to you that was like, wow, Robo need cookie. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what the fuck he's saying. I never said that. Oh, man. But yeah, so I would say those are and Dragon Quest, like I said, you know, if it
00:47:45
Speaker
didn't for some reason not run well on a switch, despite it looking very simple visually and not really can't even run well on switch. So yeah, that's fair. Um, I, I would say those are my big ones are, uh, probably I don't like to at the top and then, uh, resneal for Pete's tower, Robocop and, uh, and, uh, Dragon Quest and like a dragon Gaiden or Ishin, both of those were equally.
00:48:12
Speaker
Excellent. Each one is a little more dated because obviously it's an older game, but I love this. Guiding really up to the excitement for opening wealth. So close to the end of the year. Interesting release. They did that game so smart because they were like, here's a new Curie Adventure, blah, blah, blah. And it's during Yakuza 7, like a Dragon's, fuck, it's during 7. Did you try?
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's, uh, I didn't cry, but I was, I felt it. I was like, damn, this is a man spirit, which is like the most curious thing in the world. But I was like, okay. Yeah. I didn't fully remember what was happening in the octo seven. Cause it's been like what, two years. So having it take place during that with like little scenes of, I was like, Oh, I remember that. I remember that swinging into infinite wealth. I have a refreshed memory of seven, but I didn't have to replace them. I, uh, I just played a cool new side adventure and I, uh,
00:49:09
Speaker
feel completely ready for infinite wealth. But those are mine. I will agree that Resident Evil 4 is definitely on my list. Along with Dead Space, I believe those two days this year are probably perfect.
Narrative in Dead Space and Octopath Traveler 2
00:49:29
Speaker
I, I, even, even now I can't think of anything particularly wrong with either of those games. Um, you can say, I mean, you can dig up something about it, but fuck, they're both so brilliant. Um, no, definitely. Uh, and so, uh, but, but like I would, I would call those like honorable mentions my personal games of the year, uh,
00:49:58
Speaker
Octopath Traveler 2 for sure. It's a game that showed me that I'm still able to get through these lengthy RPGs and that's something that I really look for when I'm playing games as an adult.
00:50:14
Speaker
We're like 35 year olds who are like, I can still play football with the boys on Friday. I can still play an RPG. I can still play a long game. But I have the mental capacity to also understand some of the nuances of these stories. And I'll tell you that the writing, the writing is like,
00:50:36
Speaker
So good. And it pains me on some levels that like Starfield got such a bad response because I will say that regardless of what you think about those quote unquote bad games, sometimes the writing is worth it, you know, to look past the quirks of the gameplay systems just to experience a narrative that you won't get anywhere else. And, um,
Tavii Gameplay Praise
00:51:05
Speaker
I think a game like Starfield is a good representation of that. There's things that could be said about the presentation and what was promised and what you got, but I'll say the writing is really good. Something like Redfall, though, you can avoid so much because the writing sucks, the gameplay sucks, everything sucks about that game.
00:51:33
Speaker
pick and choose, which sometimes games are rated lower for their gameplay, but sometimes the narratives are what you really go in to to experience. But Starfield is not one of my game of the year, as I'll say. Tevi, the the Metroidvania from Kree spirit. I loved that game is like a bullet hell Metroidvania. I just like Toho games as well. So anything bullet holes kind of already
00:52:02
Speaker
a game that I would say is, um, mine and you could throw in like cute bunny girls and I'm, I'm there pretty much. Um, but my game of the year, well, Final Fantasy 16 is not my year of the year, but Final Fantasy 16 is up there as like a game that I have a lot of respect for from the, from the year. Um, it wasn't exactly what I needed, but it, it emotionally moved me and that's, and that's again, something I look for.
Armored Core 6 Challenges
00:52:32
Speaker
Yeah, you know, like I don't know where I met with him. I love Clive Clive's. Yeah, I can't. I hope they make another decidia and I hope he is in it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was to be such a good kid. There's a there's a few characters that would make good additions to the cloud and knock this and even Benedicta. Oh, man. I hope she she is such a great character. Hmm.
00:52:59
Speaker
That was very surprising to me. There was just blatant fucking in Final Fantasy. I was like... Yeah, a little hard.
00:53:08
Speaker
I was, that was the, that was the appendix. So I was just like, damn, this didn't happen on PS one. What the hell's happening? Like you always, there was always like the idea of like a nude code in Mortal Kombat and everyone was like lying about shit. Tomb Raider nude code. I was at the age where when I was going around, I was like, why would I want to see that? Yeah. I just want to play cool video games, dude.
00:53:39
Speaker
But my game of the year armored core six Nice. Yeah, that makes sense. You would do like occasionally just DM me be like this part of our record fucking rocks
00:53:50
Speaker
I was like, I was really liking it. I remember one boss, one particular boss took me like seven hours to beat. And this is the first one. No, it's like everyone said like the first one's really hard. It's like, I mean, I was at the at the press event. I was the first press person to beat that. And I was like, oh, yeah, I'm done. Whatever. You're like, yeah, I did kind of like
00:54:19
Speaker
I got, I like rallied like the devs behind me. Cause I was being a little, I was being a little expressive, like fuck shit. So close, you know? So they were kind of watching me. Um, so this is going out tomorrow. I'll say a similar experience was at the, like a dragon infinite wealth event where the producer was standing behind me and Mark while I was doing the dating mini game. And he was watching me as I answered the questions and Mark and I were just laughing and just having a good time.
00:54:49
Speaker
ended up getting catfished.
Like a Dragon Event Experience
00:54:51
Speaker
But I, I believe that his, him experiencing press people, our media at least doing that was like a really nice memory for him. Uh, because usually at press events, media people are kind of boring. They, they kind of just play the game and, and, um, act, uh, which I get like, yeah, they're a little jaded. They wait for the food to come out or the free, you know, it's, yeah.
00:55:15
Speaker
It's some, some events are like every event you go to, and it's your full-time thing is going to be your favorite game or anything. Yeah. Yeah. You're tired because you just got off a plane and that too. Yeah. Um, but yeah, armor core six, uh, such an amazing and brilliant action game that I could not put down, uh, for a second. I'm excited for whatever they do with that game in the future or that series. I am. I'm on board. That's it. I'll make sure to play at some point.
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:55:45
Speaker
So we'll, we'll keep this under an hour, guys. Thank you so much for, um, a wonderful new year, um, unqualified game chat. We'll continue to make these and, uh, yeah, continue to comment and hang out. We're, we're very excited about this year. We can't hope to, or we can't wait to, uh, deliver more episodes. Absolutely. See ya. Bye everybody.
00:56:11
Speaker
I'll see you next time.